In 2006, there were 128,660 families recorded in Tasmania. Of these, couple families with no children accounted for 40.5%, couple families with children represented 41.4% and one parent families made up 16.7%. Most families with children, regardless of being couple families or one parent families, had children aged under 15 years. Other children in families were classified as non-dependent children (not full-time students and aged 15-24 years) or dependent students (full-time students and aged 15-24 years).

MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES

In 2008 there were 2,685 registered marriages in Tasmania, representing a decrease of 106 (3.8%) from 2007 and resulting in a crude marriage rate of 5.4 marriages per 1,000 population. The median age of people married in 2008 was 32.7 years for males and 30.1 years for females. There has been little variation in these rates over the past 5 years. Marriages involving cohabitation prior to marriage increased from 83.4% in 2004 to 86.4% in 2008.

In 2008, over half of all divorces involved children. The crude divorce rate decreased slightly over the last five years, from 2.9 in 2003 to 2.3 in 2008. In 2007, the median duration of marriage prior to divorce was 14.3 years.

CRUDE MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE RATES, Tasmania

MEDIAN AGE AT MARRIAGE, Tasmania

For both males and females, the highest age-specific marriage rates were in the 25-29 year age group, with 53.4 marriages per 1,000 males in this age group and 50.0 marriages per 1,000 females in 2008. In 2008 72% of Tasmanian males and 75% of females who married had not been married before.

LABOUR FORCE STATUS OF PARENTS

In 2006, more than half (58.4%) of all dependent children in couple families had both parents employed. The likelihood of both parents being employed increased with the age of the children. At the same time, 32.1% of dependent children in couple families had only one parent employed, with the likelihood decreasing with the age of the children.

Of one parent families with dependent children, 49.9% of children had an employed parent, with the likelihood generally increasing with the age of the children.

Of children living in couple families with children, only 8.3% had neither parent employed, compared to 48.3% of children in one parent families. The likelihood of the parent in a one parent family with dependent children not being employed decreased markedly with the age of the children, from 70.3% for dependent children aged 0-4 years to 25.0% of dependent children aged 18-20 years, then increased again slightly to 29.3% for dependent children aged 21-24 years.

In 2008, 52% of children aged 0-12 years had usual child care arrangements. Of these, 14% used formal care only, 28% used informal care only and 9% used both formal and informal care. Long day care was the most commonly used type of formal child care (14%) followed by before and/or after school care (5%) and family day care (5%). Grandparents provided a significant proportion of informal child care (24%).

FORMAL CHILD CARE(a), Tasmania, 2008

INFORMAL CHILD CARE(a), Tasmania, 2008

WORK ARRANGEMENTS USED TO CARE FOR CHILD

Parents use a range of work arrangements to help them care for their children. These include flexible working hours, part-time work, shiftwork, work from home and job sharing arrangements. Of all families with children aged 0-12 years, with at least one
parent employed, 63% indicated that at least one parent normally used one or more of these work arrangements to help them care for their children. Flexible working hours was used by 43% of families with children aged 0-12.

CHILDREN'S PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

In 2009, 28.4% of Tasmanian children aged 5-14 years participated in cultural activities. Almost three quarters of Tasmanian children (72.7%) attended a cultural venue or event.

More than half (57.5%) of all children aged 5-14 years participated in organised sport. Of those participating in sport, 19.1% of Tasmanian children played soccer (outdoor), followed by swimming (14.6%), and Australian Rules Football (10.0%).

The most common leisure activities in 2009 were watching TV, DVDs or videos (98.1%), reading for pleasure (77.2%) and bike riding (68.6%). Most children (76.3%) accessed the internet.

In Tasmania in June 2008 almost 90% of children aged 3-8 years had a parent read to them, tell them a story or listen while the child read. Of these children, 54% were involved in these activities everyday, 18% on four to six days of the week, and 16% on one to three days. In June 2009 parents reported playing sport, outdoor games or board games with 83% of children aged 3-8 years.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN INFORMAL LEARNING(a), Tasmania, 2008

VOLUNTARY WORK

According to the 2006 General Social Survey, 36.0% of Tasmanians aged 18 years and over undertook voluntary work in the 12 months prior to July 2006. Most volunteers were engaged in fund-raising/sales (19.4%) followed by preparing/serving food (13.1%). This trend was reflected in persons aged 25-34 years,45-54 years and 55-65 years. Persons aged 18-24 years were primarily engaged in teaching/instruction/providing information (15.0%) followed by fund-raising/sales (14.8%). The majority of persons aged35-44 years were engaged in fund-raising/sales (20.5%) followed by teaching/instruction/providing information(17.2%) while those aged65 years and over were engaged in fund-raising/sales (19.6%) followed by administration/clerical/recruitment/information management (12.7%).

TYPE OF VOLUNTARY ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN(a), Tasmania, 2006

TYPE OF INTERNET CONNECTION

On Census night 2006, more than a quarter of Tasmanian dwellings (excluding not stated) had broadband internet access (28.6%), closely followed by dial-up connection (25.7%). Of all occupied private Tasmanian dwellings, 45.1% had no Internet connection.

Greater Hobart Statistical Division (SD) had the highest proportion of broadband connection (33.2%), compared to dial-up (24.1%). Northern SD reported 28.4% of dwellings with broadband and 25.1% with dial-up. Mersey-Lyell SD reported 24.2% with broadband and 26.7% with dial-up, and Southern SD reported 15.7% with broadband and 34.2% with dial-up.

Southern SD had the highest proportion of dwellings with no Internet connection (49.6%), followed by Mersey-Lyell SD (48.5%) and Northern SD (45.9%). Greater Hobart SD had the lowest (41.9%).